Two dead in Canada after vehicle hits pedestrians taking part in First Nations event

Two elders from Tsawwassen First Nation were killed and two others injured when a vehicle struck pedestrians taking part in a gathering marking Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in British Columbia. The incident occurred on Tsawwassen First Nation land, south of Vancouver near the US‑Canada border, around 10:25 a.m. local time (16:25 BST) in a local parking lot, according to the Delta Police Department. Police said the operator "may person been experiencing a aesculapian emergency" earlier the collision. They added they bash not judge it is related to Truth and Reconciliation day, a national holiday that honours victims and survivors of Canada's residential schools, which sought to forcefully assimilate Indigenous children. The two injured were receiving treatment in hospital. "Our thoughts are with the families, loved ones, and each those affected by this tragic incident," Delta Police said. Eyewitness accounts from CBC News reporters on the scene noted that more than a dozen ambulances responded. In a social‑media announcement the previous week, Tsawwassen First Nation said it had planned a community walk followed by the unveiling of a monument in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The event was scheduled to run from 09:30 to 13:00 local time. In an X post that has since been deleted, Canada’s energy minister Tim Hodgson said he attended the walk and posted two images from the event. A spokesperson for the minister, Carolyn Svonkin, said "helium was not adjacent the incidental erstwhile it occurred." Tsawwassen First Nation reports 491 members on its website, with roughly half residing on Tsawwassen lands and the remainder in nearby areas, including Bellingham, Washington. Canada began observing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021 after the discovery of unmarked burial sites at former residential schools. The day coincides with Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous grassroots‑led observance honouring children who went missing or died in those schools.